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And now I am graduating at Mt. SAC.

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And I have been Mt. SAC

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for quite some time.

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And it's just beautiful.

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It’s beautiful. This football field.

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I love the campus.

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I love the people that are here.

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It's been so supportive

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and really just helped me

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to grow into a better student.

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So it was very

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it was a good experience.

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I will miss it, I will.

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And now try to go to a new campus.

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It's like, okay, who are you.

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We're going to the same ...

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We’re going to Cal State Fullerton together.

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When I met her she was a single mother

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and not no more.

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I met her in the transition of...

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I work here at school and then...

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Man, I just never been somewhere

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where so many people support you.

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You look back in retrospect

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like, wow, I did it.

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And that's where I'm at right now.

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I'm like, wow, I did it.

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 I'm just extremely blessed.

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It's been great.

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I've made a lot of friends.

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Some of them graduated with me.

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I have like a whole plethora of friends

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that I've made that I still talk to.

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I talk to every day.

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So I came to Mount SAC

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specifically just for a certificate.

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I wanted to show my kids

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what they needed to do for education

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and the value

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that it would have in their lives.

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I started before the pandemic.

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However, when life happened in 2019,

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that was when my baby was born.

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Sometimes life just happens,

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you know, it's

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it can be challenging

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when you don't have the support.

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So I was in and out,

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in and out, in and out.

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However, after I had him,

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I decided that I was going to be

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the difference

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out of my mom's four kids.

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Be the first one to graduate

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to get her Associate’s

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and still keep going.

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You know,
I wasn't in an in the mindset

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of wanting to go to school either.

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But you know what?

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I did and, my entire life has changed.

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I was in a really bad car accident

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because I actually was in a coma.

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I was hit by a drunk driver.

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I was in a coma for almost two months.

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I had to relearn everything

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how to talk, read, write.

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I wasn't sure if I was going to be able

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to come to school on campus,

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or if I was going to need to do things

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online, and Mt. SAC

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had a lot of offerings.

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an issue with our 13 year old

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special needs son

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where he was on life support.

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But,

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that gave me the opportunity

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to continue schooling.

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even from the hospital.

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I had not been in school

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for a long time,

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and I was very nervous.

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You know, my background is from

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a formerly incarcerated person,

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and it's like, you know, I'm

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going to get judged here.

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And, you know, I'm actually

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I'm not young.

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I'm old.

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People are going to look at

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what are you doing in school.

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But, you know, that wasn't the case.

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I just didn't have the motivation.

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And so it made me really second

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guess everything about myself.

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What if I'm not smart enough?

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And then I came here

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and I applied myself

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and sought out the resources.

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My first semester, I was scared,

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you know,
I was scared, but I still went.

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I walked through those fears, right?

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And it didn't happen overnight.

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But Mt. SAC has helped tremendously.

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Like at Access and the Access program,

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they have tutors everywhere

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that will help you.

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I needed a little bit longer

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for test taking

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and sometimes it's hard

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for me to learn in a traditional way.

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So it was a lot of helping hands,

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a lot of helping hands.

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If I could recommend anything

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to any students coming

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in, it would be to seek out

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all of the support services

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that are available.

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It will definitely make it easier here.

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Everybody's been welcoming.

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Even the people here.

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Just walking up in here

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was just like, oh yeah, we'll help you.

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I've never once felt

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like nobody here was able to help.

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So for me, Rising Scholars

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gave me a sense of identity, right?

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Because I came to campus

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and I seen people that looked like me.

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They didn't ask so much

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that I felt ashamed of the problems

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I was having.

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They were just very helpful

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and wanted to see me be successful.

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And all of a sudden

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those good grades were addicting.

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They're addictive.

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I'm like, what?

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And all I do is show up to school

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and talk to people

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and reach out for help?

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And that's when the entire shift,

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the entire psyche change happened with me.

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Amazing.

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Everyone did a fabulous job.

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I'm so proud of my students.

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Oh Man, Mt. SAC great.

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It gave me a lot of time

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to figure out myself,

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figure out what I...

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What I want to do.

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I'm gonna miss the Wind Ensemble,

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My friends and the campus.

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It's so nice here.

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It's just a beautiful school

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to come to.

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Go pursue

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what you want to pursue.

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Go to Mt. SAC. Mt. SAC is great.

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I am going to miss Mt. SAC.

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I love Mt. SAC.

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If I could stay here forever,

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I probably would.

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Definitely like a massive campus.

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And you're literally going to have

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the best time here.

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There's so many events.

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Oh, I love Mt. SAC.

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I recommend Mt. SAC to anyone.

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Community college

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is a great way to start,

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especially if you're looking

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to go into a four-year

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starting a community.

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It's probably

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one of the most easiest way to start.

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You know,
just because I went through these events

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in the past doesn't define me,

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and I can grow from that.

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I'm ready to go on to the next step.

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I feel like I could ask for what

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I need and, I feel prepared.

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Yaaay!!!